Memory
by OhHeyJackTheRipper
Summary: Waking up naked in a strange place is terrifying. Add an exceptionally intimidating stranger with blood all over him and your heart beats so fast it feels like it's about to explode. But that terror is nothing compared to what's outside... M for language and gore/violence and sexual themes later on.


"What about her?"

The voice sounded foreign and disjointed as my mind slowly emerged from the darkness. Her? Was that me? Despite still being enveloped in darkness, fear ran through me.

"Is she dead?" the voice asked again. Dead? Was I dead? Is this what death feels like, being stuck inside a body only hearing the outside world and having no feeling at all except a freezing chill?

"Idiot." a new lower, gruffer, voice growled, "She's just unconscious. Do your job and get rid of that foul body." Just like that more of my dulled senses came to life; I could feel what I assumed to be hard ground beneath me and I could smell something oddly familiar and yet I couldn't quite place it.

"Yes, sir." the first voice spoke again followed by a shuffling and then a sound that could only be described as an object being dragged. The chill I was feeling got colder as my body began to wake up, I groaned and slowly blinked open my eyes. The world was a blur of mahogany and amber. Where was I? Candles lit the room illuminating the brick and clay walls. Panic suddenly overtook my initial fear as I realized I had no idea where I was. Sweat formed on my forehead in the thick aired room and while my body was waking from it's numbness, I realized that despite the heat, I was too cold. Abruptly I sat up and pulled my knees to my chest, hugging my exposed naked body. I was naked in an unfamiliar place with no idea of how I'd gotten here!

"Oi, oi." the gruff voice said from near by. I looked in the direction; a young man stood with his hands on his hips staring down at me with a scary expression. He had blood stains on his white shirt and more on his boots and wore strange metallic boxes on his sides with what seemed to be long blades held securely inside them. I cowered backwards against the wall trying to make myself as small as possible in hopes he would see me as a weakling not even worth killing whilst attempting to keep myself covered. But he didn't. Instead he stepped forward and crouched down, the contraption on his waist clunked and clattered as it rested on the stone floor, producing a white cloth from behind his back and draped it over my shoulders.

"Don't be scared," he commanded, his sharp grey eyes piercing my soul, "You're safe now." Safe? Safe from what, safe from who? Where was I? Who was this guy? So many questions ran through my head yet I was unable to voice any of them. But it seemed as though he knew them all anyway,

"Do you know where you are?" he asked, I shook my head. He sighed and turned his head away looking like he'd expected my answer, "You don't know anything, do you?" I pulled the cloth closer to me, trying to warm myself and cover my nakedness. Suddenly the man stood again and I was forced to look up at him, he was so intimidating yet there was a kindness to him as well. I didn't know whether to be terrified or trust him.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter right now." he said as if deciding something, "Get up, we're leaving." Just like that he turned on his heel and started walking to a broken wooden door.

"W-wait." I said remembering how to speak, he stopped and turned his head back to me, eyebrow arched, "Who are you?"

"Levi." he said as if I should have known. I blinked at his retreating back, astounded and in awe of him at the same time. So much had happened in the last few minutes my head began spinning. The only answer I had to all my questions was this guy's name. However I got the strong feeling that I wasn't going to learn anything useful right now and keeping Levi waiting was probably a really bad idea so using the wall for support I pushed myself up onto my feet, the cloth Levi had rested on my shoulders fell and landed on the floor. Picking it up I saw it was a coat of some kind, long enough that it reached my shins easily and covered my hands. Afer buttoning it up I peered around the room; tables with vials and bottles filled with different coloured liquids, medical instruments and tonnes of books and paper.

Deciding I had spent enough time looking around I hesitantly, and unsteadily, shuffled in the direction of which my apparent rescuer had disappeared only to find a slightly larger brick and clay room filled with sacks, barrels and what I guessed were some kind of weapons, and several men all dressed similarly with the same rectangular equipment. The man who had left me a few moments ago, Levi, was standing at the bottom of a ladder looking up at the closed trap door.

"Oh, hey...We'll be ready to go just as soon as we get the green light." one of the men closest to me announced when I stopped beside him. He was young too, tall and lanky, but had a cheerful expression. Not at all like Levi. The trap door creaked open, protesting in a loud groaning wail, and bright, warm sunlight flooded the otherwise stuffy room.

"We're clear for now, sir." announced yet another of these uniformed men as he leaned over the hole to shout down at us. Levi nodded and began his ascend to the surface. I followed with the rest of the men. The world around me was incredibly beautiful, full of nothing but lush, thick forest with the tallest trees I'd ever seen...actually, as far as I knew these were the only trees I had ever seen, and out to the right stretched a vast grassy plain. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Staring at it, my fear vanished with the breeze and gentle sway of the leaves, an indescribable joy rose within me and warmed my heart. _Home_. This is what home felt like.

"Can you ride?" the cheerful looking man from before asked me as he swung his leg over the sturdy grey horse. I blinked and glanced around, sure enough there was at least a dozen horses, chestnuts, greys, browns and one or two blacks. I looked back up at the man gazing patiently down at me; honestly I had no clue whether I could ride a horse or not. I couldn't remember.

"She can ride with you." suddenly strong hands were around my waist and I was being lifted into the air towards and outstreched hand. All I could do was take it and seat myself upon the horses back. Levi stood on the ground glaring up at us, "Keep her alive."

"Yes, sir." the man said before Levi turned and walked over to his own horse. I blinked at him; just who did he think he was ordering people around, manhandling me? And these guys just took it without complaint?! I huffed quietly and glared at his back.

"My name's Eric, what's yours?" the man in front of me said as he turned slightly to face me. My glare softened and I turned my attention to the ground,

"I...I don't know. I can't remember." I whispered.

"That's okay, I'm sure it'll come back to you. Regardless, it's nice to meet you. I hope you don't mind riding with me, I'm no Levi but I'll do everything I can to keep you safe until we reach Wall Maria." Eric said with a wide grin and a thumbs up. I blinked at him curiously,

"What do you mean 'no Levi'? Who is he anyway? The way he talks to everyone is so rude." I asked, my gaze shifting once more to Levi. Eric chuckled,

"Wow, you really have no memory at all do you? He's only Humanity's Strongest Soldier, and since he's our leader I guess that gives him the right to talk to us like he's better than everyone. I mean, he _is_...He's the reason I joined the Scouts." he said, "Ah but enough about that. We're about to head off, head in the game Eric. It could be pretty dangerous so you should hang on tight, okay?"

I didn't get a chance to reply, Levi gave the signal to move out and I was almost thrown off by the horse's sudden lurch forward. Griping tightly onto the sides of Eric's shirt, I clung on desperately as we powered towards the grassy plain. I was glad that the coat I was wearing was long on me, the wind had it blowing around everywhere and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

After a few minutes of riding, Levi gave another signal and the horde began to devide and spread out into an arrow with Levi at the head. Further and further they rode out until Eric and I were on our own with one other rider several metres beside us.

"What's going on?!" I shouted over the roar of the wind.

"It's a special formation we're still trialing. Basically the guys on the end are lookouts, if they see anything dangerous, they shoot out a flare. The next person who sees the flare lets off one of their own and so on until it gets back to the leader who shoots a different coloured one in the opposite direction, leading the rest of the pack away from the danger!" Eric explained.

"You keep talking about danger but all I see is an empty space!" I said leaning forward more so Eric could hear me. He smiled,

"That's why it's so dangerous. The gear we have allows us to fight in the air giving us an advantage over the enemy, but out here there's nothin' so we're a bit on the back foot. That's why we're using this formation to avoid unnecessary fighting and deaths!"

"So what's this enemy? Wild tribesmen, beasts?!"

Eric's smile faded and a sombre look overcame his features, "I honestly hope you never have to find out!" he replied. A chill ran down my spine and I knew that this was the end of our conversation on the topic. I sat back and stared at the few scarce and scattered clumps of small trees as they whizzed past wondering what could be so terrible that made Eric look the way he had.

We rode on for what seemed like ages, there was no slowing down or stopping and my thighs and butt were beginning to ache something fierce. I shifted my weight in hopes of making the pain subside just a bit and turned to crack my neck. That's when I saw it. Tugging on Eric's sleeve I leaned forward again,

"You know how you said there was different coloured flares for different things - what does a black flare mean?!"

"Black?! Shit!" Eric said suddenly switching from relaxed to rigid as he called out to the rider next to us, "Abnormal spotted!"

"An Abnormal?!" the rider replied as he fired off a black flare, "Fuck me!" An abnormal? What the hell was an abnormal? And more to the point - an abnormal _what_?

"Hey, do me a favour and tell me if you see purple smoke coming from the same direction you saw the black!" Eric told me. I nodded despite the fact he couldn't see me and looked right, I didn't know how far the riders had seperated but I could only just see the one who'd fired the flare I saw. He was like a black spot on the horizon a few paces behind us. Several minutes passed and nothing changed, no flare of any colour. I was about to tell Eric that nothing was happening when another black spot appeared on behind the rider, it was fast and bigger than him but by how much I couldn't be sure. Using my hand to shield my eyes from the sun, I squinted trying to get a better view at what was going on. The bigger spot completely covered the rider but there still was no flare. I watched unsure on whether I should tell Eric or not - perhaps it was normal or part of the plan? And he did say to tell him if I saw a purple flare not a big thing. The spot became bigger and bigger and began to actually take shape. I could make out the head and slowly arms and legs came into view. More features like colour and more definition became clearer the more it advanced on us too.

"What the hell is that?!" I shouted to no one. Eric, having heard me, held me back while he turned slightly to look behind us.

"SON OF A BITCH!" he yelled reaching for a flare gun in his saddle bag and firing it into the air releasing bright purple smoke into the air, "Hold on as tight as you can!"

I wrapped my arms around his torso as he kicked the horse into a faster pace. Flare gun, panic and fear - this monsterous thing running behind us...this was the enemy I'd heard about? It looked just like a human except several metres tall, how could this thing be so terrifying?

"Eric! What do we do?!" the rider beside I yelled as he closed the distance between us, "We can't fight it! Not here!"

"I know, I know!" Eric replied, "Just stay calm and remember your training!"

"Yeah...training!"

"What's going on?" I asked Eric.

"We're under attack. You may have to take the reins if I can't outrun it." he told him seriously. Pounding rapid footsteps that hurt my eardrums became louder, I risked a glance back and understood why this being was so feared. Its mouth was pulled into an unnaturally wide grin showing off almost all of its teeth. It had hair to the top of its ears the colour of straw, and its face seemed masculine except its body had no genitalia at all. But the thing that scared me the most wasn't its physical appearance nor its height but the blood on its chin and around its mouth.

"Eric! Ride faster!" I screamed feeling the fear surge inside me. I didn't need an explanation on what it wanted or why we were fleeing, I knew. It wanted us.

"I can't! Torsten, we have to engage!" Eric said to the rider.

"No! You protect her! Get her to Levi, I'll distract it!" Torsten replied steering his horse towards the shrinking space between us and the monster. Eric weaved between two trees and headed in towards Levi,

"You idiot, Torsten..." I heard him mutter under his breath. I looked back to see Tosten flying at an amazing speed around the monster and up towards the back of its neck. But I didn't keep watching, I didn't want to know what happened. Instead I tried to get control of myself and loosen my grip a little around Eric's middle. Closing my eyes and letting out a long breath, I dared to entertain the hope that Torsten managed to kill the monster and we'd be safe until we reached our destination, and after a few tense minutes of nothing but the sound of hooves beating down on the ground I had almost believed that was the case.

Almost.

Out of no where the monster appeared and swiped out the horse's legs from underneath it, sending both me and Eric flying through the air and into the dirt several metres away. I landed hard on my side and rolled, trying to keep as limp as I possibly could so to avoid any broken bones. During my fall something sharp cut into the side of my forehead. I coughed, my ribs aching with every breath as I spat out grass and dirt. A blood-curdling scream made my heart sieze and stomach clench in fear. I rolled onto my back and sat up, brushing the hair out of my face. Eric was being lifted into the air by his leg, the monster was on its hands and knees grinning terrifyingly as it open its large mouth. I was frozen by fear, panting and eyes wide.

"No! Oh God! HELP ME! I DON'T WANT TO-ugh." Blood splattered onto my face, arms and body as the monster bit down on Eric's torso. I stared in horror unable to move or scream as I watched it eat him. Then, when it was finished, its eyes shifted to me and it began crawling slowly forward.

"N-no...get back..." I choked as tears formed in my eyes. I was going to die. This thing was going to eat me just like it had Eric only there wasn't anyone around to see my death. There wasn't anything I could do, I couldn't move, I couldn't even speak anymore I was so terrified. It reached its huge, long arm out towards me, fingers ready to pluck me out of the dirt and place me in its mouth. I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut, I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream but I couldn't. I just stared into its eyes and waited to be eaten.

Its smile faltered and its outstretched hand stopped moving towards me. Steam rose from behind it and the arm supporting its weight began to shake and collapse, bring the monster down heavily onto the ground. Its arm dropped, creating a small puff of dirt. When my vision cleared I saw a smaller figure standing atop the steaming body as its skin began to rapidly disappear. The figure, a person - a normal sized person - jumped effortless off the monster and began walking towards me.

"It's alright." he said and unparalleled relief washed over my body, releasing me from the fear that had bound me so tightly. There was only one thought I had in my mind in that moment and that was to go to him, this man who had just saved my life. Unconsciously, my body had already started responding to my needs and I was on my feet, half stumbling half slow running over to him, tears pouring down my face and making some wimpering noises. I crashed into him, clutching onto him tightly and he just stood there and let me.

"Levi!" I cried burying my face into his already stained shirt.

"You're safe now." he said repeating the words he'd already told me today. Grasping my shoulders, he pushed me back and lifted my chin so he could see my face. Frowning slightly, he touched the wound on my head. I winced painfully whilst trying to control my girlish sobbing. Suddenly he whistled and his horse came trotting over to us. Levi began digging through one of the saddle bags and pulled out a roll of bandages.

"This will have to do until we get back to the Wall. I've got enough blood on my clothes today and I don't need yours adding to it." he said although his tone wasn't as harsh as his words. As he strode back over to me, he motioned for me to sit. I didn't know whether it was because I was on the ground, on a horse or not actually coherant enough to notice, but Levi was quite short and since I was exactly his height, I knew that made me quite short too.

"That was your first time seeing a titan, wasn't it?" he asked while he bandaged my head, "I don't mean because you lost your memories either. Normally seeing one will spark memories to return, but you seemed genuinely shocked at seeing it."

"Is that strange?" I asked through hiccups brought on by crying so hard.

"Yes." Levi replied, "Very. Even those fat pigs holed up in Wall Sina have at least heard of what a titan can do."

"Oh." was all I said, my gaze shifting to the steaming body still on the ground, "So is it...did you kill it?"

"Don't worry." he replied, "C'mon, we have to go." I stood, wiped the grass from the back of my now torn, bloodied and dirtied coat and followed Levi back to his horse. After helping me up, or rather pulling me up behind him, I wrapped one arm securely around his middle while the other clutched the chest of his shirt tightly. Levi urged his horse into a smooth gallop and we soon returned to the rest of the convoy. I rested my cheek against his back and stared at the horizon - the landscape was still so beautiful but I no longer felt the joy I had when I first saw it. This was a terrible, horrific and deadly place. I never wanted to be out here again. But as I stared, clinging to Levi for dear life and resting my head against his strong back I felt remarkably safe. I knew then that if it was a decision between being terrified of him or trusting him, the latter would be the winner.

**Yep, another SnK fanfic. This time I sort of wanted to show how life would be like for someone who knows nothing about the world and has to learn and witness all the drama and horror of the SnK world.**

**If you liked this little first chapter then please check out my other SnK fic, God of War :)  
><strong>


End file.
